Spencer Kobren Answers Questions About Relationship With Dr. Hitzig

[tbtadmin]

Email sent to The Bald Truth:

Spencer,

I listened to your interview with Dr Gary Hitzig and was somewhat optimistic to what he had to say about ACELL.

I typed in Gary Hitzig on the internet to find out more about the guy and was shocked to find out this guy has a very shady past. Dr Hitzig was in a lawsuit 10 years ago over several botched hair transplants where he was suppose to be the doctor in charge. Many of the hair transplants were preformed by a New York sanitation worker who worked for Dr Hitzig. The sanitation worker had no medical experience and was preforming hair transplants in the absence of Dr Hitzig. I see he is not even recommended by the bald truth as a reputable surgeon. My question to you is why you would even give this guy air time with his deceitful past. I am a hair loss sufferer and am praying for a breakthrough so hairloss sufferers can live happy normal lives without the constant misery of having to deal with their hair loss. I listened to your interview with Dr Hitzig and went to bed thinking that maybe this is the magic bullet. After doing some research I now think Dr Hitzig is a con-artist misleading desperate vulnerable hair loss sufferers into another scam. The bald truth has a loyal following of listeners whom I beleive really stick with you Spencer because you are genuine and really do have their interests at heart. If Dr Hitzig leads many of your listeners astray it will have a severe impact on the bald truth and your credibility. I really like your show and website but feel you are
treading into dangerous territory if Dr Hitzig turns out to be another hoax. Many people cling to you and the bald truth as their last hope in forging ahead to find a cure for baldness. All I can advise is to really keep the microscope on this guy.

- S
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Dear S,

I really appreciate you taking the time to voice your concerns about Dr. Hitzig. I know that others have brought up the same issues and I think it’s a good time to address the situation online for those who have not heard my responses to these concerns on my live broadcast.

First, I think it’s important to note that I am completely aware of Dr. Hitzig's past alleged transgressions. As a matter of fact, it was I who brought them to light on my radio program back in the late nineties, which unfortunately led to a legal battle between Dr. Hitzig and myself.

With that said, I believe it is my professional and moral obligation as a consumer advocate and hair loss educator, to put my personal feelings aside in order to provide my listeners and readers the latest information on potentially cutting edge hair loss treatments.

If ACell’s Matristem turns out to be a breakthrough in the fight against hair loss, Dr. Hitzig certainly deserves the credit for being the first to experiment with the product in his practice and present his initial findings to the scientific community.

One point that I always drive home is that at this time the use of ACell’s Matristem in hair restoration is strictly experimental, and I myself will not be having any type of ACell treatment performed on my scalp until the verdict is in about the results. I also make it clear that Dr. Hitzig is not an accepted member of the IAHRS and I have no current data concerning the quality of his more recent hair transplant work.

I, as much as anyone, hope that we are on on the cusp of a true breakthrough, but I remain cousiously optimistic and advise all of you to do the same.

-Spencer Kobren

[skipstah70]

Hello Spencer. After reading this, I think my expectations have just crumbled with regard to everything I have heard from Dr. Hitzig on your show in the last 3 wks. Without even factoring in Dr. Hitzig's possible dubious medical past, I have to simply ask why you would showcase the opinions of a hair surgeon who is not in your esteemed IAHRS?? After hearing you countless times extol the purpose and stringent standards of the IAHRS, and likwise warn of the pitfalls of surgeons who don't make the cut, this seems a bit of a conflict of interest!?

[RichardDawkins]

Well iam more shocked that right now everyone seems to be open and transparent. Which is strange and first unbelievable. We even see people apologizing and interact with hairloss suffers to hear their demands.

Man i think we are really at the edge of something big (in a postive way) and i think i have to sign Spencers point of view here. To make it clear :

"Hey Dr Hitzig could crash a wedding party naked and play the saxophone while throwing pie at the bride" i wouldnt give a crap about it if he had a cure for hairloss.

But right now Dr Hitzig has to proove himself big time and i hope he does. Thats btw one of the reasons why i dont give a crap anymore about stuff from 2000/2003 because we all know that these are dark ages of hair transplant surgery.

[topcat]

Speaking as a repair patient no one would like to see this succeed more than myself. Although I am very happy with my repair progress so far only so much can be done as my donor hair is very limited. This includes the use of body and beard hair. So having a source of unlimited donor would be a Godsend.

I would say a person’s character is pretty much formed by the time they become an adult. People can change for the better over time but it’s usually not that common. When I had several procedures performed by Thomas/Ellliott in Chicago, they used the janitor to place my grafts. The outcome was not very good as you can imagine. It was only after I saw a local CBS expose on this clinic that I realized what had happened. Thomas eventually died in a horrific auto accident, but Elliott picked up shop and is doing business in CA. Would I ever believe anything this person ever had to say, no. You see my perspective is different so for me character matters. For those that have not had the actual experience it’s easy to dismiss and forgive.

I see so many red flags with this whole Acell, hair plucking procedure. Absolutely zero pictures, large procedures being done, and doctors stating that it’s being offered at a discount at the moment but that will all soon change. For me flashing lights, bells and loud sirens go off in my head, but that’s just me. My response was similar to Gho many years ago and I stated it on the forums. One well known forum actually banned me for stating the obvious because Gho was a sponsor. Well he was able to draw patients in and give them some crappy ht work and as of yet I am still waiting to see his HM work. The well known forum eventually allowed me back, and I have learned to tone down my posts. I need to probably do the same here and tone it down.

Desperate people are sometimes completely blind and sometimes the obvious needs to be pointed out. Research and experimentation should be performed with the patient’s well being in mind.

[RichardDawkins]

Dont get me wrong here, iam an outspoken and absolute critic of Gho. Maybe even more then someone can ever be. Because from the simple fact in all those years all he had accomplished are some really really bad results on his homepage.

Those results never look liked an illusion, they look like someone who has hairloss. And also he fails to give conclusive evidence till today (even his "papers" are written so generally, even i could write stuff like this.

But on the other hand we saw some pictures, or therefore posted pictures about small plucking sessions, which looked actually pretty good.

And other then Gho Hitzig and Cooley are not right now promoting it as the Cure, but are confident.

I like your scepticism because it keeps my digging far into regenerative medical solutions etc. And i am optimistic because for repair cases because i always believed in medical advances.

But you are right considering red flags. I also think both should publish some pictures at east from time to time, just to straighten the waves out and even if the results are not THAT perfectly.

I think we agree on a lot of terms but not the Acell plucking thing, iam highly optimistic here because in theory it works when we study books etc and there are practical cases.

BUT there is only one thing i really dont get and it would be nice to get straight answers from surgeons here.

"We always hear and getting told by patients and surgeons that there is in fact Graft Regrow in the donor area after FUE procedures in some cases"

So my question is " Why is no one actually chasing after this, to make THIS also a state of the art thing"

From my point of view i would say, if someone could guarantee this by FUE, that my donor regrows and gives my guaranteed proof ( No HairRobinHood PLEASE no Gho stories or hasci stories here) i would absolutey go to this surgeon and get my hair fixed BIG time.

Thats the question i have because those things happen, and a lot of surgeons backed this idead up (even sceptical ones)

[topcat]

Here is a quote from a recent patient that thought he went to the best clinic from all his research. A young man in his late 20’s or so. He had all the answers and refused to see all the red flags that have been constantly posted to the forums. Why is this still happening. I don’t like seeing it and this is partly why I speak up and post.

Unhappy??? Dude, I'm suicidal. I didn't write the LSAT last yr because I was losing my mind and couldn't focus nor study. Unhappy? "Unhappy" would be a dream. I'm devastated. My self-confidense and self-esteem is sitting on the floors of the ocean.

[RichardDawkins]

Those postings are the reason why we need a solution as fast and as efficient as possible.

And another advantage even at this state right now when we look at plucking, if you use plucked hairs and fail, at least you didnt waste precious donor grafts. Can you agree with that?

[topcat]

Yes, I agree there does not seem to be much harm with just the plucking aspect.

The whole process would have more credibilty if it was not used in conjunction with having other procedures, that looks very suspect. It should be offered for free or at cost only in exchange for consistent photographic updates by the patient. This doesn't seem to be the process but maybe I am mistaken.

[RichardDawkins]

True. Thats why i specifically asked about "If evidence and results get better if they provide plucking as stand alone procedure besides FUT and FUE and Dr Cooley said Yes.

I agree we need more fotos etc even if they are not that good. But on the other side i can understand this, because lets assume they showed awesome pictures and everyone is rushing there to get the hair done. But after a half year (just a timeline here) the hair is falling out (unlikely but just for the record) then this would be devastating.

Right now they are try to see if plucked hairs cycle, if they do in fact and its 120% backuppt i think i would go for the Acell plucking thing.

[mlao]

Yes, I agree there does not seem to be much harm with just the plucking aspect.

The whole process would have more credibilty if it was not used in conjunction with having other procedures, that looks very suspect. It should be offered for free or at cost only in exchange for consistent photographic updates by the patient. This doesn't seem to be the process but maybe I am mistaken.

I believe that some of the doctors who have recently started their own pilot studies are doing it for free but these are controlled experimental cases only.

The best thing we can do as hair loss sufferers is wait out the year at least. Then see their findings.

let's face it a conventional transplant takes a year to show near complete results so why would anyone think that doctors working with something as new as Acell will be able to show multiple examples in a few months time.

[Zao]

Hello Spencer. After reading this, I think my expectations have just crumbled with regard to everything I have heard from Dr. Hitzig on your show in the last 3 wks. Without even factoring in Dr. Hitzig's possible dubious medical past, I have to simply ask why you would showcase the opinions of a hair surgeon who is not in your esteemed IAHRS?? After hearing you countless times extol the purpose and stringent standards of the IAHRS, and likwise warn of the pitfalls of surgeons who don't make the cut, this seems a bit of a conflict of interest!?

I’ve been listening to Spencer Kobren since 1998.
You can read my story here

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=435

I remember when he was exposing all of the bad stuff that was happening at Dr. Hitzigs office and I remember hearing many patients call in telling similar stories and being very dissatisfied. I also remember Spencer talking about being sued by Dr. Hitzig and that even though he was being sued that he would not stop exposing him or anyone else who was harming people.

I really admired him for his courage to stand up to rich doctors even when they were threatening his livelihood and his radio show. It took a lot of guts to do everything Spencer has done for all of us over the years and if you read my story, it is because of Spencer that my life turned out the way did it did and I will be forever grateful to him.

@skipdash I think you must be confused when you say that Spencer having Hitzig on his show is a conflict of interest. That statement makes no sense. I was very surprised myself when I heard Dr. Hitzig on Spencer’s show, but I think people should hold Spencer in even higher regard for allowing Dr. Hitzig on his program to talk about Acell when Spencer probably could have just ignored him and interviewed other doctors like Dr. Cooley. This speaks to Spencer’s integrity as a person to push the past aside and allow Dr. Hitzig on the show. Personally I do not see how it benefits Spencer at all and it only benefits all of us to have the opportunity to hear about this stuff directly from Dr. Hitzig. It takes a great man to see past everything for the betterment of all of us hair loss sufferers. Spencer is a stand up guy who never ceases to surprise me with his generosity and common decency.

Spencer I have said this several times, but I very much appreciate what you have done for me and will always be your #2 fan. I know Joe from Staten Island holds #1postion.

Thanks for everything Spencer!
Chris (aka zao)

[clee984]

This speaks to Spencer’s integrity as a person to push the past aside and allow Dr. Hitzig on the show. Personally I do not see how it benefits Spencer at all and it only benefits all of us to have the opportunity to hear about this stuff directly from Dr. Hitzig. It takes a great man to see past everything for the betterment of all of us hair loss sufferers. Spencer is a stand up guy who never ceases to surprise me with his generosity and common decency.

Hear hear.

Where would we be without Mr Kobren? Fumbling around in the dark, that's where.

Have you ever seen the episode of Curb your Enthusiasm where Larry walks past a stranger who's bald, and they just give each other the thumbs up? Like "Hey brother, stay strong"? I think we're all a bit like that, this is an underground movement like Fight Club, and Spencer Kobren is Tyler Durden.

[PayDay]

Hear hear.
this is an underground movement like Fight Club, and Spencer Kobren is Tyler Durden.

LOL, that’s exactly how I feel about Kobren. I think I’ve even heard him say that The Bald Truth is like “the fight club”. First rule of the Bald Truth, don’t talk about the bald truth I’d be in a rubber room if it weren't for Kobren, seriously!

[Winston]

I think we all know that Spencer Kobren has our best interest at heart. Like Zao pointed out, Spencer is a stand up guy and a class act. Even though he is as famous as he is, he always comes off a being approachable, humble and just a regular guy. I’m glad we have him on our side.

[RichardDawkins]

This time i was really impressed with one situation in his Hitzig interview. Where he just asked about "How long will it take"

Cause sometimes he is not that straight, but this was a classy act imho